Interview with Abby: Christmas Edition

Abby: Knock knock
me: Whose there?
Abby: Orange
me: Orange who?
Abby: Orange you say banana

Q: How was your Thanksgiving trip?
A: Good

Q: What did you do?
A: Play with my friends. Seth said to go downstairs because there was a bad guy there so I killed him with Ollie's gun.

Q: What else did you do?
A: Play with Brianna. Hey, I drinked my chocolate milk all gone. (Speaking to Mom) He's making letters huh? (points to the computer) That thing is making letters.

Q: What do you want for Christmas?
A: Some baby clothes and a barbie.

Q: What does Santa do?
A: (laughs) Plays with kids.

Q: What are you learning in school?
A: Sings ABC song while shaking a maraca wildly.

Q: When is Christmas?
A: In five weeks.

Q: What do we do on Christmas
A: Put up our decorations. (Sings Santa Clause is Coming to Town)

Q: What are you getting Mom for Christmas?
A:  I will let her have a angel. Mommy, you're going to get an angel for Christmas.

Q: What do you want to get Dad for Christmas?
A: Uh ahh. A singing trumpet.

Like Robert Goulet on my Stereo!

For a while now I've been telling everyone who will listen how amazing Robert Goulet's Wonderful World of Christmas album is. I even put it in a song for heaven's sake. For those of you whose eardrums have not been tickled by this excellent music, I give you a small sampling after the break:

Dustin Kensrue | Sufjan Stevens

These songs were a big inspiration to starting Herod the Fink last year.

Random Christmasness

> This year, I've learned that if you focus on protecting your precious time, you end up with a lot of empty hours. If you try to find a way to good things and stretch yourself, time issues have a way of working themselves out.

> Natalie and I have went to Hale Center Theater's production of "A Christmas Carol" on Saturday. I had forgotten how beautiful the language is, and what a poignant message of Christ is within. It is amazing how often this classic story is redone (or butchered as the case may be) and how in almost every case Christ is removed altogether. Give me the original or give me nothing. A Muppet Christmas Carol might be my lone exception, but even that version uses lots of passages from the original text.

> I have been amazed at the response at our living room shows. It has been so much fun to share this music with so many people, and to realize that the world is full of really good souls.

> Growing up, I knew the right "Sunday school" answers as to why Christmas is special, but is has only been much more recently that it has really sunken in. The Creator of the world condescended into the humblest circumstances in order to allow his Father's most prize creation (us) to reach our full potential. He came into a world that was lost, and claimed victory for all who would follow him. I can't put it any better than Dustin Kensrue in his song "This is War."

This is War
by Dustin Kensrue

This is war like you ain't seen.
This winter's long, it's cold and mean.
Where hang dark hearts which stood condemned,
But the tide turns now at Bethlehem.

This is war and born tonight,
The Word is flesh, the Lord of Light,
The Son of God, the low-born king;
Who demons fear, of whom angels sing.

This is war on sin and death;
The dark will take it's final breath.
It shakes the earth, confounds all plans;
The mystery of God as man.

Is It Really Too Much to Ask?

All we want to do is make a classic, timeless holiday album. How hard could it be? I think I'm starting to side with the majority who think we're crazy for making such an attempt. There's a good chance it will just fall on it's face, but we'll be sure to make it fall with grace. Ooo, I like it. I actually might use that line in a song. Anyway, the songs are progressing and I hope in the end they come across sincerely.

I thought it might be interesting to attach the song notes Jason and I put together for our next session. I don't think it gives too much away.

Herod the Fink

I want to have a name for this Christmas project, and I think I have it - Herod the Fink. The inspiration comes from some of my oldest, fondest Christmas memories.

We used to go as a family up the street to Brad and LaRue's (family friends / fellow 5th ward members) for Christmas Eve. We would read the Christmas story and consume delicious holiday treats. Brad had created a miniature city of Bethlehem complete with the manger scene, sheep, shepherds, pigs, chickens, palm trees, peasants, a synagoge with hebrew scriptures, etc. It is a hand-made labor of love. There are lots of hidden gems in the scene including references to many of the Savior's parables. Brad's sense of humor was also evident in various parts, most notably in some scratched graffiti on one of the city walls which read "Herod is a Fink."

Preliminary Tracklisting

01. By Night (original)
02. What Child is This?
03. The First Noel
04. Away in a Manger
05. It's Christmas Again (original)
06. Silent Night

This is far from set in stone, but as of right now these are the songs we plan to record starting on Saturday.

Christmas Card

So, we didn't actually get around to printing and mailing one, but if you are reading my blog you deserve a Chistmas card from the Crowley family.

Hang the Holly

A Christmas song I wrote last year.

A New Christmas Tradition?

I've toyed around with this idea for a while, and I think it would be a really fun thing to try. If it worked out, it could turn into a new Christmas tradition. A couple of years ago during Christmas time, my mother in law Cathy and Natalie and I spent a couple of hours playing and singing Christmas songs together. Cathy and I both had the old Reader's Digest Christmas Songbook, and we just flipped through and chose our favorites and played and sung song after song. After that night, I thought that it would be really fun to do the same thing on a slightly larger scale (with more instruments and more voices). It would be fun to have instruments such as a violin, cello, piano, guitars, bass, keyboard, percussion, harmonica, mandolin, harp (wink, nudge Christine). Anyway you get the idea.

It would be a casual get together, basically a Christmas party with a few friends where at some point we do this sing along/play along musical experiment. I envision almost all acoustic instruments so the setup would be pretty minimal. Maybe just an electric bass and keyboards plugged in. We would print copies of the music so you could just show up and play. The one requirement for attending would be that you either sing or play so that there is no audience, only performers. (We will have shakers and tambourines and possibly hand clapping/snapping for non singers/non players who want to participate).

Well, that is my crazy idea. Please leave a comment if you would be interested in participating. Let me know what instrument(s) you would play (including voice). Also, I will throw out a few dates, if possible list which date would work best. Possible dates: Friday December 5th, Sunday December 7th, Saturday December 13th. If none of these work you could certainly suggest another date, I'm just trying to get the ball rolling and see what kind of interest there would be.